Have reports of phenomenology's death been greatly exaggerated?

Bruce Ellis Benson

pp. 365-378

in: Simmons, James E. Hackett (eds), Phenomenology for the twenty-first century, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016

Abstract

This concluding chapter is a response to the chapters by Tom Sparrow and Paul J. Ennis. On the one hand, Sparrow argues that phenomenology is too vague to count as a coherent movement. On the other hand, Ennis argues that phenomenology has been surpassed by recent scientific explanations. The conclusions of Sparrow and Ennis are remarkably similar: phenomenology is "over'. In response, Bruce Ellis Benson argues that phenomenology has flourished precisely because of its adaptability, which is why it will flourish in the future. Further, while scientific explanations of phenomena are no doubt helpful, they do not make other explanations superfluous. Benson provides reasons to think that phenomenology will be influential in the twenty-first century and thus reports of its death are premature.

Cited authors

Sparrow Tom

Ellis Benson Bruce

Ennis Paul J.